Halo: Ascension
by Hunter63
Summary: [ After the Great War, Humanity begins to rebuild, and while many challenges present itself to the surviving government, nothing will have as much as an impact as Shanxi. The Galaxy shall become the center point for an ancient threat's plans, people of all backgrounds must come together, and Humanity must finally ascend to its rightful throne as inheritors of the Mantle. ]
1. Prologue

**Authors Note:** Hello, the authors note here is rather long, so you may skip it and then read the story, you might do that anyways, but I just want to note that first. Anyways, as a proud fan of Halo and Mass Effect, let me be the first to say that I get sick of the fact that I cannot get a story out. Now to this oh so original story title (Sarcasm) I give you my attempt on creating a Halo and Mass Effect story, done my way, and no, it is not going to be a Halo stomp, the aim of this story is not to indulge in either sides fanboyism.

I first want to point these two things out real quick, the UNSC uses Gauss weapons in this story not because I think they should, it is just a personal preference, I find it reasonable for the technology they have, and the time era the story is in. Next, there is the concern of Halonic energy, you will come across it here and there, but it is nothing to worry about, in short it is just a energy from a unlimited source dimension, it's based off the Forerunners already established source of energy, but less universe killing, more dimension sucking, it is still gathered in a way were you can't just stay on it 24/7, so batteries and all that are common stuff for weapons and all that so far.

Lastly, I feel that it is best to bring it up now, rather than later, but there is something me and my NS friend Yellowapple came up with, it is basically my Halo's equivalent to biotics, I am using it for this story just because I want to, I know thats a lousy, somewhat rude reason, but I really like the idea, and I think I can do it properly. Anyways I know the writing is not that great, but at least I try, I know you want to read and give it a chance, so here you go, the story lies below.

Oh one last thing, I always view these summaries and non character dialogue as being told by that person from Halo Waypoint, you know, the guy who was speaking in the Heroes never Die video and all those other ones. Do you read these with a voice, and if so what doe sit sound like, make sure to say so in the reviews if you want to.

**Word Count:** 3,390

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**X - **I own neither Halo, Mass Effect, or any references or minor immigrant canon that might be added for no reason in particular. After all, if I did there would have been a Halo, Mass Effect game out wouldn't there?Halo is property of 343 Industries and Microsoft. Mass Effect is property of Bioware and Electronic Arts.** - X**

* * *

**Halo: Ascension**

**Prologue**

"It is an undeniable and may I say fundamental quality of man, that when faced with extinction, every alternative is preferable."  
**— Leonard Church**

* * *

The Galaxy, wide and large it housed many life forms, many civilizations, none more as legendary as the Forerunners, who disappeared from the galaxy many, many years ago. In the year 2522, the Human civilization under the banner of the Unified Earth Governments made hostile first contact with an alien collective called the Covenant at Harvest, the United Nations Space Command, created after the Interplanetary Wars in the early 22nd century, moved to combat the alien threat. The following years would be brutal, with heroes as far as can be, no soldier died for nothing, each death was a promise, a promise that the life's taken would help Humanity move towards victory. Near the end of the war, the UNSC Pillar of Autumn escaped the glassing of the Planet Reach, Humanities former doorstep, their fortress amongst the stars, The PoA would arrive to an unknown alien installation, it was called Halo, A Spartan Super soldier named John-117.

The Master Chief, would crash land on the Halo with fellow Marines, his A.I companion, Cortana would help him retrieve the Marines in the area before UNSC forces could move out and combat the Covenant ground side. During the battle, the Master Chief would unfortunately uncover a dark secret of Halo, on a mission in one of the numerous jungles of Halo, John discovered the ill fate of his comrades deep inside a Forerunner structure, the Covenant unleashed a dangerous parasite, the one parasite responsible for the fall of the Forerunners, the Flood.

The Master Chief would regroup with fellow Marines just prior to 343 Guilty Spark arriving with the Halo's sentinels in order to contain the flood, 343 explains that Halo was a weapon to kill the flood, and with little need to question, the Master Chief decides to help. After retrieving the Index through a flood infested library, the Master Chief is promptly stopped at the Halo control room by Cortana, who reveals that Halo is not a weapon to kill the flood, but it is designed to kill their prey.

The Master Chief would then go about on a campaign to destroy the Halo, facing all that came into his way, the Master Chief eventually makes it back to the crashed Pillar of Autumn and overloaded it's engines before taking a Longsword, and escaping the Halo's destruction. The destruction of the halo would set in motion for the fall of the Covenant, and Humanities survival, little did they know, the rings destruction called for the trail of the Fleet Master who was in charge of The Fleet of Particular Justice, Thel' Vadamee.

In October of 2552, the Prophet of Regret would lead a fleet to Earth, not knowing it's status as the Human Home world, despite being outmatched, the UNSC forces the Covenant leader to retreat, Regret is followed by the UNSC In Amber Clad to Delta Halo, were the tide of the war will soon change to the Human race, and a Jiralhanae exclusive fleet arrives to the Earth.

On the planet, a three way battle begins between the Sangheili and their loyal companions, fighting off what they see as a heretical attack by the Jiralhanae, while also continuing their mission under the prophets orders. As the Jiralhanae assault continues, many Sangheili start to question what is happening. The Sangheili only force under the command of Rula 'Fararamee deduct the whole situation and make peace with the UNSC 406th Regiment in Damascus, the two sides work together to rescue the UEG President from his downed Starship at the cost of the Sangheili giving their lives to the President and his men.

When the In Amber Clad arrives to Halo Instillation 05, the master Chief along with a group of ODST's land on the ring and manage to assassinate the Prophet of Regret. Later that date, the great Schism officially begins as Sangheili forces begin to mobilize themselves and the rest of their allies to combat the rest of the Covenant. The Covenant Fleet of Honored Servitude glass the Jiralhanae colony of Jarturan in retaliation for the death of many Sangheili, and their betrayal, the Ship master however learns of the truth after speaking to a hidden Forerunner machine on the planet.

The next day, the Arbiter is sent to Delta Halo to retrieve the Index for the Prophets, the Prophets betrayal of his kind not known, he retrieves it jsut as the Master Chief arrives to stop him. The two however are interrupted before they can make battle, and are forced to combat several Jiralhanae together, only for the Jiralhanae Chieftain Tartarus to strike at them, forcing them down a hole to their demise.

They however are saved and captured by a entity called the Gravemind, who sends them to a agreed mission to prevent the Halo's from firing. The master Chief is sent to High Charity, just as an infected In Amber Clad crash lands into the ship beginning a wide spread infection. The Master Chief cannot prevent Tartarus from escaping, but as advised by Cortana, he stows onto a Forerunner Dreadnaught leaving Cortana behind to watch over the Installation, John plans to use it to get closer to Truth, however he is soon discovered and force to use the Forerunner tank like weapon to destroy his way through the ship to get at Truth.

Concurrently, the Arbiter reaches the Halo's Control Room but is unable to prevent Tartarus from activating the ring, thanks to using a Human to use the controls. However the Jiralhanae warrior would fall when several Sangheili and the humans aided the Arbiter in battle, able to defeat the Jiralhanae. Meanwhile the fleet of Honored Servitude sends a message of surrender to the UNSC defense fleet of Amaterasu, the UNSC allows the Sangheili to arrive to their ship for a meeting, the Sangheili explain what lead them to their change of heart. As a sign of trust the Ship Master gives away all information crucial to the Covenant and directions to the Jiralhanae colony they glassed.

The day after the UNSC Fleet arrives themselves, and reports confirm many of the things the Sangheili tell them, the UNSC Captain keeps the Sangheili on watch as prisoners, with the Ship Master remaining by his side, he awaits further developments elsewhere. Meanwhile, the ship yards on Ferris produce the first UNSC Battleship, the UNSC Budapest, which is a ship of the brand new Centurion Class series of ships.

The Prophet of Truth would soon arrive at Sol a day later, heading towards the Earth. The Sangheili and UNSC officially enter a temporary alliance, the primary reason for the Sangheili is to atone for their crimes. The Master Chief lands on Earth using a piece of Forerunner metal form the ship, he awakes to see allied Marines with him, and the Arbiter as well, being debriefed on current UNSC would fend of the Covenant's assault on Crows Nest, and UNSC forces begin an attack on the city of Voi, which leads the the Master Chief destroying a Anti Air tower. However the city would soon have to be glassed when a Flood ship enters the atmosphere and lands in the city, the Master Chief and his allies fight their way to the crashed ship and overload it's generators to contain the December 11, of the same year, the final battle in the war begins.

The remaining ships in the UNSC Luna Defense Fleet arrive with the Sangheili Fleet of Retribution over Installation 00, better known as the Ark. The UNSC and Sangheili lands their forces and after numerous battles on the Ark, the Prophet of Truth is killed at a Citadel. This came with a price however, Captain Miranda Keyes is killed in action trying to stop the Prophet of Truth. With this victory also came an assault by the Flooded High Charity, which landed slightly prior to the death of Truth, is set foot on by the Master Chief, who fights his way to retrieve Cortana from the mess.

Afterwards the Master Chief and Arbiter move towards a newly recreated Halo Instillation 04, with the intent of activating it to destroy the flood on the Ark. Sergeant Major Avery Johnson lands the UNSC Forward Unto Dawn far from Flood Occupied zones before he, along with two Sangheili make their way to give support to the Arbiter and Master would however die when 343 Guilty Spark went rampant, the Monitor was then killed before the Master Chief activated the Halo. The Master Chief along with the Arbiter and a surviving Sangheili would use a Warthog to escape the Instillation as it began to destroy itself from beginning to fire, the Trio would thankfully make it two the Forward Unto Dawn, however the ship splits in two when it enters slipspace, the forward half land sin the Indian Ocean, while the back part drifts in space, the Master Chief using a cyro tube to rest and wait for when he is needed.

After a few years, the Human race finally recovered, on the forefront of Human re-expansion was the famed UNSC Infinity. In 2573, the UNSC Infinity discovers a signal from the Forward Unto Dawn. The Forward Unto Dawn would crash land on the Forerunner shield world Requiem, trapped by a gravity well shortly after a Covenant remnant fleet arrived to take the shield world as theirs. The UNSC Infinity would arrive itself soon after, but suffer a similar fate. These events were not by chance, but were planned, the ancient Forerunner warrior servant, a high ranking Promethean named the Didact. After tricking both the Master Chief and Cortana to remove him from his imprisonment, the Didact emerged from a cryptum with the intent of destroying and or composing all of humanity.

After several clashes on the surface of Requiem, The Didact managed to escape in a Forerunner equivalent to a destroyer, the Mantle's Approach. After composing the Humans on a Halo Installation, the Didact and Covenant arrived at Earth with the intent of hitting Humanity at it's heart. The Covenant fleet did not last but it took a well placed shot at the weakest area of the Didacts ship to allow the UNSC to buy themselves time. The Master Chief previously hitched a ride on the ship in a UNSC broadsword and thanks to the UNSC Infinity, he took the brief window opportunity to enter and get a Nuclear missile towards his destination.

The Master Chief fought his way through endless amounts of Promethean A.I before arriving to the center of the ship, where the nuke will be used to destabilize the ship. Using Cortana to distract and halt the Didact, the Chief made his way to the center only to be quickly defeated in combat by the Didact, however the A.I would use the last bit of energy she could muster to hold the Didact in place, giving John enough time to place a Pulse grenade on to the Didact's armor, when the explosion hit, the Didact was stumbled back before falling into the void below where his fate remains unknown. The Master Chief would use the rest of his energy to detonate the bomb, and in her final act of a helping hand, Cortana created a hardlight barrier to safe the Chief from certain death, at the risk of her own destruction.

In the first year of the 27th century, the UNSC scientific branch discovers strange bacteria on the Infinity, test show that they are from the seventh dimension in slipspace. In 2608, the UNSC makes an astounding discovery, after further research into slipspace, scientist discovered that the flowing energy of the dimensions allows certain individuals to harness the power of the universe through the bacteria, though on a small scale, many theories arrive from this discovery.

The discovery was far more clear in 2613, when the UNSC finally understood the slipspace abilities that could be achieved, a study on how to control it began. In March of the same year, the UNSC finishes the CVX 7 Nano Machine, it is designed to increase the strength of the soldier, as well as increasing their bone structure, and give them the ability to heal from almost any wound with proper attention to the area, they are to be issued first to Spartans in the last week of the month. Unknown to some, these nano machines are designed with the ability to easily control the bacteria that could possibly allow users to manipulate slipspace, they are being prepared for injection into the body.

* * *

**[Reach Medical Facility Gamma]**

**[Epsilon Eridani]**

**[March 21st, 2613]**

RMF Gamma, no other facility on Reach was as imposing and alluring as this one. Created in 2201, Gamma was the final Medical Facility created directly by the UNSC, because of this it was created to act as a Citadel of sorts. Gamma was a large structure, the right side was a tower of 50 stories with a space elevator connecting with it several yards away, excluding the bridge which connected the two.

The day was sunny and warm, except when a small gust of wind came through every now and then. As men and woman moved around continuing their work, a large man, around 7'0 in his armor walked towards the main door into the facility, gaining some looks from people, everyone looking at the man with a smile.

As he walked into the building, he was met with a man who was in his twenties. The man walked up holding with him a data pad, looking at the information with a sign of approval. With a smile he looked up towards the large man and made a move to shake his hand.

"John, it is a pleasure to meet you, your just in time." The man said as the larger one, John-117 nodded, the two began to walk away from the entrance and through the nearest hallway to their right. John-117, better known by the first two words in his rank, Master Chief, was a hero in the eyes of many. John was an elite super soldier, a member of the famous Orion Program, a member of Spartan II. The Master Chief was a veteran of the Great War, and was one of the sole reasons that Human moral was so strong through the later years of the war.

"Just a short walk to the elevator, were going to floor 17, the medical bay there is already setting things up for your procedure." The man said before pressing a button on a holographic interface. "Now I want you to know that you have a high possibility of having our arm ripped apart from where your injected, however after the nano machines are in your blood stream, they should repair it in no time, when that happens you will just need to take an hour nap in stasis while we have the arm reattach, hopefully then everything will be fine and you can use these abilities without much harm."

The information given was less than exciting for John, but in the end, it was something he had to take into account, there was no turning back now. For better or for worse, the Spartan was looking forward to the nanos, all that really mattered now was that his blood test showed that he was compatible with the nanos, since all he knew from last week was that they were not completely compatible with people who had over exposure to the effects of Glassing, what was considered overexposure was not known to the Spartan.

As the elevator reached floor 17, John and the medic near him walked out towards a serene environment designed to relax patients. John took the initiative to walk towards the room himself first. After passing a hall full of patients, he made it to a room at the very end, the medic walked first into, and John followed suit.

As John sat down a man turned around smiling and without a hint of pause he walked towards John.

"Well John, from what I can see already from the blood test we did, your the perfect subject for this procedure." He said before he extended his hands towards John. "My name is Michael Anderson, I'm sure you know my father David, he was the man that altered military forces of a Covenant attack on Shanxi."

John nodded, some may consider it rather awkward to talk to someone like a Spartan about the War, but John wasn't a fool, this was meant as a way to comfort him, Anderson's actions were painfully obvious to him, but it would be better to talk, so without much resistance, John shook the mans hand.

"I know your father, I met him briefly at Shanxi, he's a good person." John replied, showing some kindness towards Michael.

"Good to know we have some connection with each other." With that statement finished, John took a seat down on a nearby chair just as the medic from earlier walked over to him, John deactivated his shields as the medic moved to him with a device, something different than what he has seen previously, but John guessed it was to remove his armor. The Medic began releasing some armor on his right arm, Michael during this procedure, was preparing the nanos, by filling a syringe were the nanos were to placed.

The medic only had to remove the armor covering his biceps, which were heavy, but the specific medic thankfully was using a kinesis module to lift the armor piece carefully to the ground. Once the armor was gone the medic grabbed a small knife and made a small cut into the under armor, obviously it was a heavy duty plasma blade, nothing else in the room would get through the under armor.

As the knife cut through his under suit, his flesh was then exposed to the air, the cut also allowed some of the gel inside his under armor to cover his skin, which the medic immediately moved away from the mark were John was to get injected. The medic drew back his knife as Michael walked up towards John, and with care he smoothly pushed the syringe into John, penetrating his veins allowing the nano machines to begin to swarm through his blood flow. Michael quickly pulled the syringe out and with his fellow medic, they moved away slightly to see if John's arm remains in tact.

John flexed his arm briefly just as the body began accepting the nanobots, although John knew he was not done, he looked up towards the medics, and Michael already had the serum ready.

* * *

In 2613, the Master Chief would gain two new attributes, nanobots that would increase his abilities to a even higher standard, and a serum which would allow him to alter space and time to his needs, he would be the first of many Spartans to gain this ability. Later in 2613, most Spartans already have the necessary nanobots and serum required, the technology is passed to the Sangheili as a sign of peace between the two sides, the soldiers who can use these abilities are referred to as Hyper-organics.

Later that year, the UNSC discovers a strange object not far from Shanxi, a tuning fork shaped object with large readings of dark energy, UNSC scientist are sent in scientific research vessels to learn about the object, initial theories is that it is a forerunner object, though some are holding judgement until it is fully learned. The UNSC Unity, an Infinity Class Super Carrier and the Shanxi Defense Fleet patrol the area. After the scientist researching the massive object turn it on, the nearest UNSC ship, the UNSC Budapest Battleship, drifts away at FTL speeds to an unknown location, the UNSC discovers that it is a part of a transit system and decides to explore further in hopes of finding where they lead. May of the same year, the UNSC Budapest is on its way to the colony, not aware that it will be present for the first battle of a new age.

* * *

**| - Codex - |**

**Unified Earth Governments:** Formed in the late 22nd Century, the Unified Earth Governments was created as a means to bring together the worlds governments into one power. It's Constitution was signed by the seven most powerful nations, and four independent off world colonies. The Unified Earth Governments formed post Inner Planetary War, a war which shook each and every nation to its limits. Each Country that signed became a state (Similar to that of the US) and each state that didn't sign lost any chance to gain representation, mostly because an existing country would gain dominance over their land, countries such as Iraq and Brazil fell to this. In the Great War with the covenant, the United Nations Space Command took over when the Covenant invaded Earth, but soon gave power back to the UEG when the war was officially over. The UEG currently occupies over 870 colonies after the Great War, instead of the 900 it originally had.

**United Nations Space Command:** Founded a year prior to the UEG, it was created as a way for Earths nations to easily combat the forces that threatened unity. It combated the Koslovics, Freidens and Cerberus movements in a four way war for control and won out in the end. The war officially came to a end with the signing of the Callisto Treaty. The United Nations would not see conflict until the Insurrection, which lasted over 14 years prior to the great war with the Covenant. The UNSC is officially the Scientific, Military, and Exploration Branch of the UEG. The UNSC Scientific and Exploration Duties are handled by the UNSCSEC (United Nations Space Command Science and Exploration Command) and their military is under the UNSCDF (United Nations Defense Force).

**The Great War:** The Great war was a war between the Unified Earth Governments Military branch with in the United Nations Space Command and the religious zealots within the Covenant, the war lasted 30 years and saw the near extinction of the human race, thankfully the war also prepared humanity to become a galactic super power after the great schism, which saw the Covenant fight within. The UEG now is currently a strong ally with the Confederacy Of United Planets, which is currently equal in power to the UEG.

**Confederacy of United Planets:** The CUP is a confederacy made up of the Sangheili Imperium, The Eayn Coalition, and the Unified States of Balaho. The CUP stands as the UEG's equal despite being made up of three nations, however it is their somewhat tie together that they manage to remain an effective fighting force against any threat.

* * *

**Authors Note:** Well there is chapter one, this story starts off with two chapters at the start, next codex will go into depth of the post halo side a bit more. Since another chapter is after this one right away, there is not a lot of stuff required in this Authors note.


	2. First Volley

**Authors Note:** Interesting note to make, this chapter was originally a part of the prologue, and the prologue was actually 6,640 words long before the split. I made the cut because while people enjoy reading what others have to write, I don't want to force to much on someone, just in case they have other things to do.

Anyways as a note I am also making a deadliest warrior story, first chapter will be up eventually, the fight is Delta One of gears vs ST6 (Seal Team Six as they are commonly called, even though the name is defunct now, the ST6 is just a stylized shorthand way of saying Seal Team Six. If you don't like long stories though, it might not be the best for you, unless you somehow bookmark it, it is currently 5,861 words, and it has only gotten to the Seals rifle test, which is the second weapon test. Though to be fair it has a small mini story into for both warrior, so when it is up you may skip that, the story will still be long however with or without that bit. But enough of that, it is still being worked on.

Anyways I hope you liked the Prologue, and as stated if I can find a Beta Reader or whatever, then more power to me and to this story, make sure to check my profile thing, should be updated by the time this story is released, should be filled with Codex entries soon, and down the road, I might even hold a vote or two, who knows. Anyways, enough talking, here is Chapter One of Halo: Ascension.

**Word Count:** 3,250

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**X - **I own neither Halo, Mass Effect, or any references or minor immigrant canon that might be added for no reason in particular. After all, if I did there would have been a Halo, Mass Effect game out wouldn't there?Halo is property of 343 Industries and Microsoft. Mass Effect is property of Bioware and Electronic Arts.** - X**

* * *

**Halo: Ascension **

**Chapter 1 : First Volley**

_"For us, the storm has passed. The war is over. But let us never forget those who journeyed into the howling dark and did not return. For their decision required courage beyond measure...sacrifice, and unshakable conviction that their fight; our fight, was elsewhere. As we start to rebuild, this hillside will remain barren, a memorial to heroes fallen. They ennobled all of us, and they shall not be forgotten."_

**- Lord Terrence Hood, Memorial speech, March 3 2553**

* * *

**[UNSC Centurion Class Battleship "BS-01 Budapest"]**

**[War Games]**

**[Haven]**

**[April 5th, 2613]**

The sounds of gun fire went off several times across the war games simulation map labeled Haven. Near the farthest corner in the back of the map, were two ramps lead to a strange middle ground, two Spartans open fire from cover, taking shots and then moving themselves back in place to avoid the shots coming in at them.

One of the Spartans, in white and blue armor modeled after the older mjolnir Gen I, quickly fired towards the enemies positions, two Spartans, one with a "Soldier" layout and another with a "Warrior" layout. After he placed his shots he moved his back towards the wall and looked at his partner, someone with a personal mix of armor, but retaining a "Recruits" Helmet.

"Hey Jack, think it is about time those num nuts worked as a team?" He asked as the other Spartan shrugged before firing at them again. After he did so he looked at his comrade who was preparing to shoot again.

"Beats me man, I have to admit, it's kinda getting boring killing them this bad right now, I mean they keep going one by one, at this rate, poor bastards won't be able to even score 1." The Spartan named Jack said in response.

"Hey Yuri, you done sucking so bad, were already up 46, we know you can hit us." The other Spartan shouted behind cover before some foul words were thrown his way, which were promptly followed by a grenade. "Yeah, I am not so sure they are ready yet. Personally I feel kinda bad for them, hey Jack, mind passing a grenade this way?"

"Sure man, but I'm not stupid, I'll toss it, but you have to catch the thing okay." Jack said, however it was said loudly, this caused the other Spartans to prepare to aim towards the general vicinity of at least upper leg length. The other Spartan nodded to Jack's decision.

"Okay Dan, on my mark, three...two...one...go!" With that said Jack rolled the grenade across the distance, meeting with Dan's hands. Dan then instantly tossed it towards the other Spartans and in a second the sweet sound of of the announcer calling out double kill rung out across the map.

"Good job bro." Jack said, Dan nodded in return to the complement, the two then turned around and walked down the hall towards the strange object in the center.

"They don't need this thing anymore." Dan said just before he let loose a powerful pushing movement with his right hand, in an instant, the object was pushed to the opposite side of the area, and with some luck, it managed to smash the Warrior Spartans skull just as he turned the corner, on his HUD that he received a kill.

"Damn man, no need to get that brutal, save it for the real enemy." Jack said, joking with his partner.

"With how bad these guys are fighting? They might as well be Grunts." Dan said as the other opponent was quickly shot down by Jack's weapon. The call of the match ending halted both sides and in a flash, everything disappeared.

* * *

**[UNSC Centurion Class Battleship "BS-01 Budapest"]**

**[War Games, Lobby]**

**[April 5th, 2613]**

The battle was now officially over, as both Jack and Dan moved out of the simulation chamber, the other Spartans not far behind. They walked into a small room which lead upwards to a small observation deck, which was currently being occupied by several UNSC operatives and the War games current observer, an A.I that was currently over looking the war games on his own time. When the Spartans came out, The A.I was now focusing on another task, away from the approaching Spartans, the A.I had an appearance similar two a 20th century German officer of the German Reich, though all references to the regime of Adolf Hitler were removed and replaced with those that represent the UNSC, he had a cyan coloration with data flowing through him at a constant pace, and the upper case symbol for lambda lied within his eyes, his name was Edward, and he was the A.I

As the Spartans walked towards the A.I, it quickly turned around towards them, both giving each other a quick salute before getting on to other matters.

"Spartans, good work, well, at least for A Team, B Team, try and work as a coherent unit next time, you are going to be working together as a unit, that means that only two of you so far show any sign of being able to function as a team." When finished his small rant, the A.I motioned for the loosing team to walk up.

The Soldier was the first to make it, and the A.I shook his head in disappointment.

"Yuri, please keep your cool next time, and if your partner keeps moving ahead, then wait for him to spawn so you two can focus as a team next time."

The Warrior walked up next.

"Qiang, a word of advice, stop running into enemy fire, your shields cannot last that long, at least at the distance you were charging from."

The A.I finished his observation, and was quite proud that the two Spartans were embarrassed, it wasn't anything special, but he knew that B team can't handle being talked down to my smaller individuals, no matter what is being said.

The A.I disappeared from view, leaving the rest of the war games crew, as well as the Spartans to do their own business.

* * *

**[UNSC Centurion Class Battleship "BS-01 Budapest"]**

**[Combat Information Center, Bridge]**

**[Tianjin, Moon of Shanxi]**

**[April 5th, 2613]**

The CIC of the UNSC Budapest was calm as ever, the ship was current en route to meet with the Shanxi Defense Fleet, and at the current speeds of the ship, that would be over in a matter of minutes. The Budapest's captain was currently over looking tactical data of the ship, just to see if everything is in order. The Captain was rather young looking, but he was rather average for a Captain in the UNSC, he was tall, around 6'6, his uniform hid his muscular body, a result of his free time working out in the gym. He had a clean goatee, thick but seemed almost smooth, his white uniform matched well with the moderate blue secondary colors which hugged the whiteness of his uniform from the bottom of his wrist, all the way to the waist of the jacket, his pants followed suit, but the blue line was much straighter and was not bent by the mans shape.

The mans name Alexander Churchill, a modern descendant of World War 2's own Winston Churchill. He has been the Captain of the Budapest for as well as thirteen years, and he knows practically everything about his ship, so much that an evil clone would be a far larger threat then any enormous fleet, luckily that was in the realm of science fiction. Alexander looked over his ship before turning around to sit in his chair, there was no threat, so he didn't need to pay attention to his CIC.

Next to him, Edward appeared on a display hanging from the right arm of his chair. The two would salute, a sign that the two are ready to begin their own conversation.

"Edward, how did the training go in war games?" Alexander asked, the A.I lowered his hand to this remark.

"Everything is in order for Alpha, but Beta is still lacking." Edward could tell that the Captain was displeased from this statement, almost making him regret telling him the truth.

As the Budapest made it to the rest of the local UNSC fleet, Edward began to rub his chin in confusion, gaining the attention of Captain Churchill.

"Edward, whats wrong, your not trying to download 15 yottabytes of porn onto our servers again, it was funny the first time, but we have other things to focus o..." His sentence was cut off by Edward raising his hand flat.

"No, there is a large build up of energy by the object, someone is coming through." Two this, the Captain raised his eyebrow, before he could start giving out orders, the relay in the system flashed and a UNSC ship came out, the ship was a freighter, around the size of a Cruiser, freighters of that size usually have a small form of defense along with a contingent of personnel trained in using the weapons, this was to give it a fighting chance when it came across hostiles, the cruiser sized freighters could afford these, other smaller freighters however remained defenseless. This overall lead to a cheap means of freighter defense when an actual fleet was not prepared, or when the freighters in question were making a small stop.

As the vessel moved closer, it became apparent that the ship was attacked by unknown hostiles, Alexander could tell that several parts of the hull have been breached, and worst of all is that several were close to the engines. The vessel continued to move until the light from it's engines died down, leaving the ship dead in space.

"Captain, several hundred life signs are present, their life support system is still around, as well as the artificial gravity, but for how much longer? Hard to truly say, by my estimations we have about either 5.98 minutes to reach them and get power to them, or more preferably anything between the mentioned time all the way to 20.6 minutes, I wouldn't want to run the risk anyways, we should prep a team immediately."

"You raise a good point Edward." Alexander said to his A.I companion "Situations Officer, I want a sitrep."

"Captain, the Admiral of the Shanxi Defense Fleet has sent two Tether Ships in to bring the Freighter to safety."

The Captain nodded to the news and began barking orders to the crew, he wasn't going to let that ship die.

"Coms, I want a message sent to the SDF, tell them I am sending a team to investigate and give them some power."

"Already on it sir!"

The Captain nodded to this and pressed a button on the left arm of his chair.

"This is Captain Alexander Churchill to Spartan Team Emerald, report to hanger 1A for transport, you shall be brief on the mission once you arrive."

The Captain removed his finger from the button and he stood up, he grabbed the back of his neck and applied pressure as he walked towards the CIC. When he reached it fellow members of the crew were already prepared, the Captain proceeded to wave his hand over the map, which expanded its view, now showing the SDF, his own Battleship, and the damaged freighter.

"Hope to god nothing bad comes from this." He mused, and to this the crew began working like a well oiled machine, doing its best to secure the damaged ship and its crew.

* * *

**[Luna Trading Company - Quito Class Freighter "Johnny Boy"]**

**[Bridge]**

**[384,400 Kilometers From Shanxi]**

**[April 5th, 2613]**

A few minutes have passed since Spartan Team Emerald left the UNSC Budapest and arrived on the Johnny Boy, two members of the team moved down to fix the power problems the ship was facing, what remained of the civilians was that of pure dread and terror, from what one Spartan could get, an unknown fleet of ships arrived from one of the relay's and appeared somewhere around the middle of the freighters line of shipments, on the bridge a disoriented and severely hurt crew member told how it appeared that the ships moved in to flank them, while some remained for a small charge, the captain spoke on how he had to sacrifice an entire deck just so everyone else could make it out of the death trap.

The information was being sent back to Alexander back on the Budapest, and the information kept coming. In the bridge of the freighter, s Spartan in cyan armor stepped up as the civilians were being moved out of the ship, and unto a few pelicans. The Last member, the captain remained.

"Sir, I'm going to need a full description of the events that transpired here, can you please state your name, the ships name, class and the business you for?"

The captain was tiered, slightly stunned, but complied.

"My name is James Redfield, captain of the Johnny Boy, a Quito Class Freighter owned and used by the Luna Trading Company from Sol."

"Good, now, explain the events of April 5th, 2613, about an hour ago."

Again, the captain complied.

"About an hour ago, me and a few other ships formed a line when we exited the relay leading to the nexus point, we made a line of small ships behind the larger ships with the two defensive freighters at either end, when we were about half way to the relay leading to Shanxi, about, seventeen unknown ships, slightly less then the SDF appeared from another relay, I was about to see if I should try and talk to them, maybe lead them to the SDF if the proved peaceful, just so we can have a nice first contact you know, well before I could actually weigh in my options, about 7 of them moved into what I think you guys call a flank, the rest continued on at a similar pace."

The Spartan nodded at the information and spoke up. "You were caught in what appears to be some form of a pincer movement, I haven't caught up with every military formation just yet, but it seems to be the most likely scenario."

The captain continued.

"Yeah, anyways when they were halfway at us they opened fire with what I thought were MAC's, though the impacts felt weaker, not as destructive."

"You know this how?" The Spartan asked.

"Retired Marine, fought in Insurrection before the whole Covenant thing happened." The captain explained.

"Very well, continue."

"Anyways, the ships moving towards us damaged about half the shipment before the flanking group hit the rest, caused a chain reaction of explosions when a round hit an engine. My ship barely made it, we took one last round before we made it through the relay."

"Thank you for the information, there will be a pelican in the hanger to escort you to Shanxi's surface, the halls are clear, so you will be fine." The Spartan said, and to this, the captain nodded and walked away, staring back at his ship, his lips saying goodbye as tears crawled down his face, the man obviously had a long time with this ship, it's always a sad day when one must abandon what they love, even if it is just a replaceable ship.

As the man was gone, the Spartan walked towards a terminal, pulling out a small data chip and placing it in his helmet. He began to speak to the Captain of the Budapest over open channels.

"Captain Alexander, do you read me, this is Spartan IV-706, I have visuals of the event uploaded and ready for transfer, over."

...

"Spartan IV-706, this is Captain Alexander, are all the civilians out of the ship? Over"

...

"Captain Alexander, this is Spartan IV-688, all civvies are safe, over."

...

"Spartan Team Emerald, Good job, head back to your Pelican and wait for further orders, out."

...

With the Captain's end done, Spartan-706 ended his part of the transmission. "Roger that, Spartan Team Emerald out."

* * *

**[UNSC Centurion Class Battleship "BS-01 Budapest"]**

**[Combat Information Center, Bridge]**

**[Tianjin, Moon of Shanxi]**

**[April 5th, 2613]**

It has been a few minutes since the Spartans have made it back on the Budapest, and only a few seconds since Alexander ordered all crew to watch the video, having Edward work double time to compensate for the lack of work keeping the ship alive. Edward has gone through the trouble to send the video to the Admiral of the Shanxi Defense Fleet, no doubt they were watching the video, and no doubt they were reaching the same conclusion as the Captain.

"Well Captain?" Edward asked as Alexander sighed as the video ended.

"I hate to say it, but there is little to no valuable information, from what we know right now, these are unknowns, and they are defiantly hostile with no cause behind their actions, practically a new covenant. We do not know what their main cannons yield is, the shock could have made the captain of the Johnny Boy mistake the damage, though the small holes indicate a smaller ammunition is used, but it strikes with enough force to go through Titanium-B Armor. They faced an opponent that was unwilling, with only two ships fighting, with only anti fighter weapons and anti missile defenses, the lack of a professional military defensive maneuver means we cannot determine how well trained these unknowns military is. We also do not know if they have shields or not, which can be a game changer, especially if they have powerful enough weapons. All we can determine fully is that they have at least evolved in a way to be capable of understanding standard warfare maneuvers, they use kinetic weaponry, and we know that they are hostile. The only way to truly gauge these hostiles is through actual combat, and that might end up like another Harvest."

"Good analyses sir" Edward complimented, and in truth, he already looked over the situation and came to the same conclusion, although far faster than what Alexanders brain could come up to. Suddenly, without warning, the sensory operator began to speak up.

"Sir, we have an energy spike near the anomaly...We have several unknown contacts, reports say they are maintaining a close and steady pace with in their group, at this speed they will be within weapons range in t minus 3 minutes. we have about 20 corvette analogues, 13 frigate analogues, 10 destroyer analogues, 4 light cruiser analogues, and 1 cruiser analogue on approach. Sir, the designs match the ships that assaulted the freighter line, they have bolstered their combat force by 31 ships, they effectively outnumber us by 11 ships."

"God dammit, I want weapons and shields charged to maximum, I want us to be in line with the SDF, get the channels to the SDF Admiral open and ready for orders to be given." Alexander ordered, and as everything he ordered was done, the situation operator spoke again.

"One minute and thirty five seconds...wait they are increasing speeds, at this rate they will get in range within 34 seconds."

And his words were true, when the enemy fleet reached weapons range, there was a slight halt of motion, both sides were faced against the other, and then a shot that was heard across the galaxy was made, as a enemy ship, a cruiser analogue opened up its sides first volley.

The Second Contact War has now begun, and both sides shall be prepared for war.

* * *

**| - Codex - |**

**[ Galactic Information Uploaded ]**

**[ Known Galactic Civilizations ]**

**Sangheili Imperium:** After the Great Schism, and the defeat of the Covenant remnant, The Sangheili civilization reformed itself into the Sangheili Mashivamee, which translates into the Sangheili Imperium, or Sangheili Empire. The Imperium is over zealous over the handling of the Forerunners Mantle of Responsibility, which the UEG keeps hidden as being their gift, in truth Humanity at this time would prefer nothing but help with this ideology, and the Sangheili are a good way to keep the UEG and UNSC focused on other things, before they are ready to fully reclaim the mantle. The Imperium is lead by an Arbiter, and a Council of Harmony and has a military equal to that of the UNSC.

**The Eayn Coalition:** Founded prior to the Kig-Yars introduction into the Covenant, the Eayn Coalition acts as the Kig-Yars sitting government. After the Kig-Yar left the Covenant, they reorganized themselves and refounded the Coalition. The Coalition's military might is rather less so than the Imperium or UNSC, but is capable of deploying any where in the galaxy, the Coalition military is designated as the Eayn Armed Forces Command, divided into offensive, Defensive, and Passive Commands. The Coalition excels at raiding, ship to ship boarding and sniping. The EAFC arguably fields what potentially can become the greatest game changer in a battle, the Chimera Class Battleship, infamous for its upscaled Needler weapon system.

**The Unified States of Balaho:** The weakest of the three members of the Confederacy, the USB makes up for its small military with its strong willed Unggoy warriors. Their size may be small, but the moral gained after the Great war has given them infamous levels of courage. The Unggoy may have the smallest military, but they make up for the small military structure with their immense economy, one which is equal to that of the UEG. Balaho is in a territorial rivalry with the Eayn Coalition, with massive amounts of disputes being put to rest by the Sangheili forcing a joint colonization effort. The USB's armed forces commonly participate in joint military exercises and simulation battles with it's allies.

**The Jiralhanae Demarchy:** The Jiralhanae Demarchy is a rather large Empire that matches both the UEG and Sangheili Imperium in military numbers and technological prowess, but cannot match them for training or economic stability. Having recently been formed from the loss of the Great Schism, conversion against the Covenant faith, and the depression and following civil war, The Demarchy has become a stable government, and an ample player in the galactic scene. While the Demarchy remains mostly isolationist, it maintains a strong military fortress on the Balaho colony Jarfyab, and a military outpost not far from the Sangheili colony of Honored Intentions, the UEG is still against the idea of letting Jiralhanae forces get close to any world. The Demarchy is infamous for it's armed forces pure brutality, with each weapon or vehicle aimed at brutal chaos and carnage. The Jiralhanae Entropy Class Dreadnaught is the galaxies most dangerous close quarters weapon, the Entropy can get into a knife fight distance, but unlike other ships, it literally enters a knife fight, the bottom of the front portion of the ship features a large blade meant to go through ship shields and cleave star ships in half at close distances.

**The Dominion of Svir Te:** The Mgalekgolo hive worlds under the domain of Svir Te remain a powerful force in the galaxy. The Mgalekgolo military tends to act as mercenaries, while easily able to handle any threat that comes to them, they are able to send many units to other nations. When a Mgalekgolo is under another nations command, they tend to generate a Hunter or Scarab based on the host nations technology. The Mgalekgolo maintain the strongest economy in the known milky way galaxy, they use the currency only on an international scale to buy supplies they themselves have no access to, such as Titanium-A armor.

**Yanme'e Migrant Hive:** The YMH is the Yanme'e's equivalent to a formal government, unlike their Covenant slave ancestors, they employ kinetic weaponry, and have their own fleet. The Yanme'e commonly act as mercenaries, much like the Mgalekgolo. The entire Yanme'e Hive is sometimes considered a contingency, a group to use only when there is no other option, this is commonly seen to be the case because they can become out of control and can become a threat to allied forces themselves. The mobile fortress Hive they call home is around the same size as High Charity, and remains in the outer rims of space, the Yanme'e remain isolationist for now, and no one besides the Mgalekgolo know what they are doing.

**The San'Shyuum Republic:** After the Great War, there remained only 500 thousand San'Shyuum, Out of those that remained inline with the Covenant, only 117 hundred lived, what remained reformed their civilization into a Republic, similar tot heir prehistoric ancestors. The San'Shyuum are the only race to not have an actually military, and only employ one weapon, one which is only used if a "Godzilla threshold" was to ever take place. Other than this they live as monks and mediators, speaking of religious topics and try to help those that seek help. As a safety precaution, the nations of the galaxy have forced them to sign a treaty to allow Human, Sangheili and Jiralhanae military outpost near their boarders in case of a hostile takeover was to occur, even though with no fleet, they would be little of a threat.

**Systems Alliance:** The Systems Alliance is an Alliance between all former participants of the Great War. There is no formal government structure, however a joint operations command lies where Halo Installation 04 once called home. The Alliance currently has a Council stationed at the Joint Command Center, in charge of holding daily meetings and speaking on their governments behalf. The Alliance has signed over five treaties and bills and runs yearly training simulations to refresh their forces against possible hostiles outside their knowledge, in their own spear of influence, or for if the Flood ever invade.

**Treaty of Harvest:** The Treaty of Harvest was an official treaty, which called for an end to the Great war, it was signed in 2553 between the Sangheili, Unggoy, Mgalekgolo, Kig-Yar, and the UEG.

**Treaty of Jarvib:** A treaty signed by the Sangheili and Unggoy standing governments which gave the Unggoy the right to leave their bonds, which was exactly done.

**Treaty of Reach:** This treaty was the first Systems Alliance treaty, and was officially signed on the Human planet of Reach. The treaty limited the number of Class One Weapons of Mass Destruction, such as the NOVA weapon system to a reasonable degree, the UNSC holds over 343 NOVA's and is not permitted to create more, though a trust system is the only thing that prevents anything like a sanction from happening.

* * *

**| - Codex - |**

**UNSC Centurion Class Battleship:** The Centurion Class Battleship is the UNSCDF's one greatest ship in the fleet, not because it is powerful like the Dreadnaughts and Carriers, or it is as numerous as Cruisers, no, the Centurion remains one of the UNSC's best because it is the most recent and most innovative ship in the UNSC arsenal. It takes the effective design of the Infinity class super carrier, and the wide spread use of the Charon class frigate. The Centurion is a technological marvel and for a small time, it had shields and weapons on par with the Infinity. With improvements to it's engines allow it to move faster than anything else in the fleet and it's CIC is arguably the most advanced, and thanks to the design of the ship, the Centurion can allow a A.I to use it all by itself for a time being. The first Centurion Class Battleship was the BS-01 Budapest, which was created in 2601.

**War Games:** War Games are the simulated battle grounds on most Infinity Class Super Carriers. The war games allow UNSC forces to train themselves again allied forces, fellow UNSC military combatants, and test themselves in historical situations, the most important o the scenarios as it allows the UNSC to see their progress as a military forces. The UNSC Budapest is the only non Infinity Class ship to have a War games chamber.

* * *

**Authors Note:** So there we have some history on the Halo side of things, promise that Mass Effect stuff will have a codex themselves, and I hoped you enjoy this chapter, the next one might not come all too soon, but it will come, I promise you that.


	3. Let Loose, The Hounds Of War

**Authors Note:** Well here it is, sorry for the delay, I just moved so things had gotten a little hectic with my time and ability to get a chapter up, but everything should be steady and chapters should be able to come out on a weekly basis each Friday once I get everything set and can get back to writing. And again, sorry for the delay in this chapter. Anyways I feel this chapter will make some of you happy, as it introduces three new characters that will be important in one way or another, as well as a reference to one of my favorite Halo X Mass Effect stories.

This chapter is told in the point of view of both the Admiral of the Shanxi Defense fleet and the Turian fleet which initially attacked the Freighters. Sorry for any clichés that might pop up, again this whole moving thing kinda made me loose track on certain things. I am also still looking for a beta reader that can look at what I have so far, and hopefully make sure I don't make a mistake that may cost me.

**Word Count:** 3,357

**| - ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: - |**

**X - **I own neither Halo, Mass Effect, or any references or minor immigrant canon that might be added for no reason in particular. After all, if I did there would have been a Halo, Mass Effect game out wouldn't there? Halo is property of 343 Industries and Microsoft. Mass Effect is property of Bioware and Electronic Arts.** - X**

* * *

**Halo: Ascension **

**Chapter 2: Let Loose, The Hounds Of War**

"_They told me to fight, and that's what I've done. Let historians sort through the wreckage, bodies, and broken lives to figure out the rest._" **— Admiral Preston Cole**

* * *

**[THOC Reverence Class Dreadnaught "DNT-8805 Grace of the Spirits"]**

**[CIC, Bridge]**

**[Xinzhou System, Relay 314]**

**[5th Cycle, 2613]**

Space was a calm realm for many, even for an experienced military officer of such high regards like that of Admiral Varhirus Mesilus. He stood at a height of 6'7 and had a strong, physically intimidating stature. His red face markings went well with his history. He was ruthless in his campaigns against the pirates and slavers that ran amok and was the first one to lead a fleet in the assault on the Hegemony military installation of Vargakahn, he was also a staunch believer that the law must be upheld, no matter the cost. It seemed to remain quiet in this system, no Relays activating, remaining dormant and still, but that changed however when he discovered a new and inexperienced race putting the Citadel and his own people at risk by activating random relays.

The enemy fleet they initially confronted was weak, only two ships have bothered to open fire when he did, the rest were fleeing like cowards, not willing to fight, their armor was however strong, durable. The farthest ship managed to leave through a relay, but that wasn't going to stop Mesilus from catching them. The order from the Primarchs was quick and decisive. Admiral Mesilus and the rest of his ships in the Turian Police Fleet will act under the Turian Hierarchy Offensive Command, the mission was to take this species homeworld turn them into a client species of the Turians, The admiral was less than happy about the idea of strictly punishing the species this much, the most he was for, at best, was weaken their military and arrest whoever gave the order to activate the relays, he doubted that he would even find their homeworld anyways.

"What a massive amount of shit this is, I should probably think twice before firing on unknowns." The Turian Admiral mused, he looked at the relay his dreadnaught - Grace of the Spirits - crawled towards. In seconds the ship was covered by the relay and was propelled across space to were the enemy ship went.

"Admiral, we have just entered the aliens system, preparing to move on against the enemy fleet in 3 minutes."

Varhirus sighed, and stood up above the rest of his crew.

"Very well, I want the pace to be picked up within the next minute or two, when they are in range I want us to open fire."

Everything looked normal so far, the alien ships were moving into a formation against his own, so Varhirus assumed that if anything, the apparent attack of his police fleet scarred of the first alien contacts, but now that they were ready, it looked like a fight was brewing. Despite the earlier battle being an easy one, Admiral Mesilus was cautious, and he made a call for 31 ships to arrive with him for the attack, it would definitely guarantee a quicker battle than just having his 17 ships fight this alone.

As his fleet got closer and closer, something wasn't right, the ships were now in sight and they were not the same models as before. Four alien letters or symbols were across all the ships they were visible on, followed by unique different symbols, some of which were already seen, and most tended to be longer than the previous four, the Admiral read them one by one.

_UNSC Budapest_

_UNSC Tropic Winds_

_UNSC Rising Sun_

_UNSC Harvest Might_

"Dammit" The Admiral muttered under his breath. It was obvious to him now, the fleet he attacked earlier must have been scout vessels, though he was also annoyed hat he couldn't make out what they mean, he always liked to know who he shot down in battle, he would not receive this pleasure now. The Turian Admiral knew that it was now or never, he could explain and apologize, but then the Primarchs would be angry, and only the spirits know what will happen to him, and his families name. Against his better wishes, he made the order to open fire.

In a matter of seconds a volley of his ships mass accelerators sped towards the enemy fleet, and in seconds they would make impact. This was a true open declaration of war, but hopefully for the Hierarchy, it would not last long. However the one thing that worried him was their dreadnaughts, right now it seemed to be that they were almost as long as the Destiny Ascension, the UNSC Pearl Harbor, already seemed to be that size.

* * *

**[UNSC Centurion Class Battleship "BS-19 Pearl Harbor"]**

**[CIC, Bridge]**

**[****Xinzhou System**, Shanxi Defense Grid]

**[April 5th, 2613]**

The reaction on the bridge of the Pearl Harbor was smooth, quick, almost as if it has been rehearsed. The UNSC Pearl Harbor was the primary ship in the Shanxi Defense Fleet, having been relocated from Harvest just last year, it acts as the flagship of the fleet. By the time the alien fleet has arrived, the Pearl Harbor was starting to move into a safe position, slightly still in an awkward, unprofessional state,

Admiral Jason E. Arthur was the current commander of the Pearl Harbor, having been with it for 5 years, he has gotten used to how to use the ship. He was aging, of 65 years of age, still fit enough for service. He had thin white hair, his goatee which connected to his mustache also showed the same age his hair did, one could tell that he once had a prominent full beard, full of life, with signs of youth. He had piercing orange eyes that stayed under his cap and his uniform, much similar to that of the Captain of the Budapest, was clean and was cared for, his rank was shown and his uniform was adorned in medals.

As his ship began to make a trip that would lead them closer to the UNSC Carriers behind the rest of the fleet, he noticed that the enemy picked up pace. By the time the ship was in position, the Alien fleet have opened up their first volley, which raced towards the fleet. Here, now, time was slow for everyone on board, it was to see how much fire the enemy could bare down on them.

The first ship to be struck was a Sanctuary Class Battleship, an older model than the Centurion, but was lacking it's descendants fire power and reliability, it was still fit enough to be in service until it could be fully replaced by the Centurions.

"Sir, the UNSC Sitting Bull's shields are down at 67 percent, several enemy shots made impact, the UNSC Fortitude has been destroyed and the UNSC Tropic Winds has been hit severely and its shields are down at 50 percent ."

The report of the first volley was in, and already the UNSC lost a ship, even if it was a Frigate.

"I want all ships centerfold to form up into An Arrow Formation, I want the Persephone and Souls Blade to move in Alpha Formation, have the Budapest and Keeper of Tales move in at Beta Formation, we will stay behind and act as a form of defense for the carriers, send a message to HighCom, alert them of hostile presence at Shanxi."

At this command the fleet moved into position, the Pearl Harbor remained behind not far from the Carriers, the ships in front moved into a spear head, with the most powerful of the ships closer to the center, they moved themselves in an ascending order, enough for the Pearl Harbor to make shots with it's MAC, while also allowing the fleet to intercept most shots sent towards the Shanxi Defense Fleet's flagship.

The ships in Alpha Formation moved to face the threat side by side, about a kilometer away from the edge of the centerfold formation, this was copied on the other side by the ships In Beta Formation. When everything was clear, the UNSC ships got a tiny bit closer and more prepared, the Arthur gave the order to fire back at the Turians.

"All Ships, your clear to open fire, give them hell."

Upon this command the SDF fired a volley towards the advancing enemy fleet, which opened fire themselves, the fire fight now began, and neither side was showing signs of breaking their will. Both sides kept at their fight, it was a glorious space battle, not seen since the battle for Earth in 2552. The irresistible force has met an immoveable object, neither side could defeat the other, it was even, far more than any battle in humanities Great War. And Humanity had to edge out a win, they had to stop this arriving paradox of equal might.

"Sir, the Agony of Several Years has been lost, and the Yamachi's shields are at 62 percent, enemy fleet is expected to hit a cool time for at least one minute before they open up another volley."

Arthur was displeased with the enemies ability to deal a good blow, the Turians have managed to hit several of his ships, even when they were moved to dodge, he had to do something, something now.

"Weapons, I want archer pods A1 to D7 opened onto the enemy fleet, send a message to the rest of the fleet to follow suit with their own."

The Admirals words were fierce, quick, and strong, the command was taken with little hesitation, almost instantly as the archer pods were opened and the Pearl Harbor sent its salvo towards the Turian fleet.

"Sir, several Frigate Analogues and Corvette analogues have either suffered heavy damage or have been destroyed, enemy anti missile grid was insufficient against the fleets assault."

The report was glorious to Arthurs ears, and it only encouraged him to keep on pressing the attack against the hostiles. He looked over the battle with the ships commander and looked at the battle before him, the enemies fighters have already gained enough ground to were they could reasonably open fire with anti ship missiles. With what little he had, the Admiral saw it best to give the enemy a taste of Human fighter craft. He motioned his hand over one of the carriers not far behind him, and opened a link between the two ships.

"This is Admiral Jason E. Arthur to the UNSC Junshō, I want you to deploy your fighters, enemy craft are moving in hot, I don't want to loose any more ships here Captain."

A reply quickly came to the Admiral, it was strong, fearless and brave, of a thick Eastern European accent.

"Roger that Admiral, the fighters are on their way."

The Admiral smirked and felt that nothing could lower the morality his fleet has, the confidence they have is too strong to falter, though, he is no fool, and he must maintain his focus, there is no room for over confidence.

* * *

**[THOC Reverence Class Dreadnaught "DNT-8805 Grace of the Spirits"]**

**[CIC, Bridge]**

**[Xinzhou System, Several Kilometers From Relay 314]**

**[5th Cycle, 2613]**

For Varhirus Mesilus, the battle was slow, too slow. The enemy has moved into a sort of spear head formation, the larger vessels being closer to the center, his fleet opened fire once again, just as the enemy did so, if the Turian Admiral didn't know better, it almost seemed to be done in unison. The enemy fleet hit his own with a potent volley, managed to severely cripple several of his cruisers and a few frigates, anything else that was hit was unfortunately obliterated by his enemies superior mass accelerators. Varhirus could easily tell the enemy had slightly stronger bow mounted weapons, he could only hope that was all that they had on him.

"Admiral, the enemy have unleashed a salvo of missiles...wait...by the spirits! the sheer amount of them! they will get past any ships guardian defense, there is simply no way past that amount, they literally are over flowing our systems with this amount."

This made Varhirus frown, it did not sound great at all, there were few options that could be taken, and the quickest way was a major risk to his own men.

"I want the nearby fighter detachment to move on a head and confront the enemy ships, distract them, fire on them, and intercept those missiles."

The order was followed through and a large amount of Turian fighters moved ahead to confront the enemy ships. However the role to intercept the enemy missiles was now only a dream, the missiles made contact with the Turian fleet, and devastated it greatly, only a quarter of all missiles were stopped, most of the fleets Guardian defense lasers were overloaded by the sheer amount of missiles.

"Admiral, we lost several ships in that barrage, several more have been heavily damaged."

Varhirus started to breath faster and faster, the enemy has sent out more missiles than he has ever layed eyes onto, this quickly turned to anger as he shifted his body to a member of the weapons department.

"I wanted those fighters there already, what happened!"

"Sir, the missiles picked up pace and came too soon, the fighters could just make it up for being this far behind the fleet."

"Am I the only competent Soldier here, I want those fighters to strike against the enemy ships."

The Admirals words struck the weapons officer like an arrow in the heart, Varhirus was not pleased and everyone knew that they had to pull themselves together if they were going to win this. The Turian fighters have moved on against the enemy fleet, racing towards the defenders with the goal of doing anything to halt them. However, the Turian fleet was now about to get their first surprise in the battle. With in seconds, a numerous amount of defending fighters came, all sources say from one vessel.

"Admiral, I...I cannot believe what I am seeing here, these species...they are deploying fighters from their ship!"

Varhirus turned his head around to the man that read the report, the smaller and younger Turian was clearly shocked at what he was reading.

"Don't worry, they are simply employing a tactic we have never seen before, I hate to sound like one of those Salarian egg heads, but it is extremely possible for us to discover new ways to wage war when encountering a new species. There is nothing to worry about, we can still win this battle, but that is only a possibility if people like you can regain their composure and act against the threat like a true Turian."

"I understand sir, enemy fighters will be making contact with ours in a few moments."

"Admiral, reports are coming in now, the enemy fighters have already opened fire, several have gone at high speeds, at 13th the speed of light and used some form of missile to take out several of our fighters."

This news was surprising to the Varhirus, the enemy has now also already fired on his own fleets fighter craft, while some have gone as fast, apparently 13th percent the speed of light, not only did they not crash but they also managed to use a form of fighter on fighter missiles on his craft, and they which managed to hit multiple fighters at that. These new species proved to be resourceful, interesting and just as efficient as the Turians, it was no wonder the battle as initially a stalemate, the fight was proving to be hard-fought, as the Turian fleet was loosing ships far quicker than the defenders, but still dealing a significant amount of damage.

* * *

**[UNSC Centurion Class Battleship "BS-19 Pearl Harbor"]**

**[CIC, Bridge]**

**[****Xinzhou System**, Shanxi Defense Grid]

**[April 5th, 2613]**

The Admiral of the Peal Harbor enjoyed the sight of the Turian forces split apart in the wake of his fleets counteroffensive. Despite loosing two more ships, both who had numerous great men aboard, Arthur found some form of joy in the battle. By the time the enemy fighters were in range of his fleets Broadsword wing, there was no hope for the enemy fighters. Several Broadswords move in at knife fighting range while the others stayed back as support, these broadswords would deliver their M6088 missiles on the enemy craft, delivering heavy damage to the enemies shields, making it easier for the broadswords back farther away to take out the fighters.

The Broadswords were not the only craft in use, the Claymore Heavy Fighter, a new addition to the UNSC fleet was also with in the wing, and unlike the Broadswords, these craft were armed with a miniature MAC, one far more powerful than the normal Gauss cannons of the Broadsword, this MAC was the same one used on UNSC tanks such as the Silverback, and it had enough power in it to send the round straight through a shielded Sangheili Seraph, in the case of the alien craft, this was simply overkill.

The UNSC fighter craft was easily out preforming the enemy ships, but the first part of this battle was still in motion, it was time for Humanity to use its most bizarre form of warfare...cyber warfare. Cyber warfare was something that Humanity has been experienced in since the early 21st century, and this form of warfare has been worked on and improved greatly since then. Even after the calming of the Great War and recreation of a galactic political scene, it is still humanity who practices this type of warfare, while the former covenant races at most, do their best to make countermeasures, most of which would still fail.

The Admiral looked to his side and with him was the Pearl Harbors A.I. The A.I took the appearance of a woman of middle eastern origins with piercing red eyes, a youthful face and dark hair that was clean and well groomed. She wears an outfit that was once common amongst people that were native to the planet Mars. She held with her a book dedicated to the great discovers in Human history. The Admiral turned himself towards he as she have a quick salute.

"Shirazi, can you hack into the enemies computers? I find that we can gain a hell lot of more information this way instead of playing a game of chicken with their fleets."

"I can Admiral, but it will most likely take time for me to hack into an unknowns systems, but it will not deter me, I shall do my best and give you as much as I can gather."

"Very well, step on it, I need everything you can gather, also...please send a copy to the ground forces and to HighCom." Before the Admiral could turn his attention back to the battle, he had an answer.

"Already done Admiral, the enemy systems are not necessarily well protected against cyber warfare. Either they are naturally weak systems, they never developed the concept like the former Covenant races, or maybe they didn't expect us capable of doing so and thus lowered their defenses, or didn't raise them at all. Either way it does not matter, I have transferred everything you need to your neural implant as well as sending a copy to HighCom and the General groundside, we should be prepared for them in case of a ground side invasion, we shall also be prepared in case HighCom wants us to preform a counter attack on any of their planets, including their homeworld."

The Admirals eyes lit up "Did you just say the words, counter attack, and homeworld? Why is their homeworld so open that any hostile can hack into them?"

"My guess is because of their Citadel and their allies." Shirazi said, making the Admiral take in the information.

"Citadel? Allies? This could be bigger than what I previously thought.

* * *

******| - Codex - |**

**Turian Police Fleet:** The Turian Police Fleet is a dedicated fleet of the Turian Hierarchy High Command, and takes orders neither from OffCom or DefCom. The Police fleet is primarily dedicated in enforcing the Citadel's laws is mostly made up of veterans of the Turian military, but also former C-Sec operatives as well.

**Reverence Class Dreadnaught:** The Reverence Class Dreadnaught is the Turian Hierarchy's Primary Dreadnaught, in service since 2456, it, much like other modern Citadel ships, features a higher yield mass accelerator, which is able to fire a round with the yield of 100 kilotons, in comparison, before the Destiny Ascensions 1 megaton yield upgrade, it at the most recent upgrade before the major improvement was at 64 kilotons, which is on par with modern UNSC Corvettes and Great War era Frigates. The Reverence is capable of handling a UNSC Cruiser, and is able to take one out as it's equal, though certain Heavy Cruisers and Battleships act as very dangerous and touch opponents at this time.

**Y808 Exoatmospheric Heavy Fighter:** Commonly called the Claymore, the Y808 EHF was first developed and tested at Glasgow Shipyards over Scotland before being tested in Kanagawa Japan, and finally tested and produced in Reach at the Amnesty Ship Yard. The Claymore entered service in 2600 as the UNSC's primarily heavy fighter, primarily designed to pierce the shields of fighters such as the Seraph in one hit. Against the Turian's Trident, it is over kill, as it's main weapon is more than enough to penetrate the weak (Relative to the Seraph shields, the Claymores intended target) kinetic barriers. The Claymore is armed with two standard M1075 ASW/AC, two M6088 ST/MMP, and a M607 MMAC, which lies below the rest of the ship. The Claymore is named after the ancient great sword commonly associated with William Wallace, though some "fanboys" have a different idea of where the name came from.


	4. Notice

Hey there, now I know it as been a while but with how long it has been since I last had computer access, this story might be on hold until I can get some other stories I am working on (Such as my Deadliest Warrior fic and a possible Skyrim story) out, time can do this to a person and I really didn't have a chance to put everything I had for tis down, so it will take a bit more, but I promise that this story will not die.

So again, sorry for the time gone, life has been a little hectic still, but hey, at least we all can still enoy the best momants in our life, and enjoy some great (And heck, maybe even some bad) fan fictions.


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